Taipei Times: Why did you begin a career in Beijing opera?
Wu Hsing-kuo: My family was quite poor and as I had quite a good voice my mother decided to send me to an opera academy. The teaching methods were harsh, with much scolding and beating ... At 12 years old, I was slightly older than most new students. From the time I entered the school, I studied the role of the “martial male.” The teachers encouraged me [in my studies] but the main thing was that here we were enclosed and didn’t know very much about the outside world.
TT: How did you create Contemporary Legend Theater?
Wu: In my final year at the theater academy I had the opportunity to study at the National Culture University, in their drama department. Here we studied Western literature, like Shakespeare and the Greek tragic poets. We learned about the theory of these dramas, but had no experience of actual performance. It was not until my second year that I joined Cloud Gate Theatre (雲門舞集). This was the first time I really experienced Western-style performance. To me, Cloud Gate performs very much in the Western style, it’s all ballet or contemporary dance. It is certainly not traditional [Chinese opera]. But in the early days when Lin [Hwai-min, 林懷民] came back to Taiwan, he wanted to incorporate elements of Chinese traditional movement and stories [into his dance] ... He was looking for someone trained in traditional performance to work with him. This experience showed me new ways of using the stage and the space around the performer.
TT: Why did you persevere with Beijing opera?
Wu: At the time [when Wu was a young opera school graduate] there were still a few opera companies owned by the armed services, but even they were closing one by one. When I graduated, only four remained. When doing military service, I was posted to the Army [Luguang] opera troupe (陸光國劇團). [At this time, Wu met the famous opera singer Chou Cheng-rung (周正榮), who expressed a high regard for Wu’s talent.] I told Chou that Beijing opera was in decline and I had decided to join Cloud Gate and become a dancer. That’s where I saw my future. He kept on telling me that the real essence of beauty and skill in Chinese art was encompassed in Beijing opera ... Eventually, I decided to become his disciple and study the “mature male” role under his tutelage. The first thing he did was insist that I stop any involvement in modern dance. I remained in the Army opera troupe for 13 years. If I hadn’t studied with him, I would never have been able to establish Contemporary Legend Theater.
TT: What inspired you to start innovating within Beijing opera?
Wu: As a member of the Army opera troupe, we had new opera competitions every year. We were always looking for new material. Macbeth (慾望城國), which was the first opera produced by Contemporary Legend Theater, was originally meant for competition. It was rejected by my superiors because it used a “foreign” story. So I said to myself, for the future of us young performers, we needed to break out [from the constraints of a hidebound opera establishment]. We would use Beijing opera, but use it to discover new potential and new directions. Only in this way would [Beijing opera] be able to draw a younger audience. I started recruiting young performers from other opera schools. We would step outside the establishment. If this production [Macbeth] worked, new worlds of material would be opened up to us. [Macbeth, was performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1991, and as they say, the rest is history.]
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